Hoe te komen tot een populatiegerichte huisartsenzorg?

Aim: Primary health care potentially offers the opportunity to tailor health service delivery to the needs and demands of the local population. Up to now, there is no clearcut method for doing this. During a pilot benchmark for general practices, an instrument was developed to stimulate General Practitioners (GPs) to consider a more population oriented approach, and to give direction to implement such an approach. Design and Methods: Health service delivery was measured through an internet survey among the GPs. Data on the health status and risk factors were selected from the population-based-survey that had been carried out by the municipal health authority. These data were related to the practices’ service areas. This provided a practice specific health profile, with which the health care delivery could be reconsidered. Results: Seventeen general practices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, participated in the study. Practices received a practice specific feedback report. With this report the GPs could compare the services and health care profile of their practice with the feedback group and with Rotterdam. Considerable variation was observed in the health status and health risks between the populations served, with statistically significant differences between the practice service areas. GPs met in four feedback groups to discuss the outcomes. They discussed possibilities for prevention or early detection and the need for collaboration with prevention oriented services. Conclusion: The method proved to be a powerful strategy to stimulate general practitioners to consider a more population oriented approach. The relatively simple approach provides a useful tool to bridge the gap between public and curative health care.(aut. ref.)